‘Resurrection Blvd.’ Can Take a Punch

“Resurrection Blvd.,” Showtime’s mundane melodrama about a boxing family in East Los Angeles, should have gone down for the count last year. Instead, it rises from the canvas tonight at 10 for a second season.

For those just entering the arena, “Resurrection” follows the low blows and uppercuts involving the Santiagos, a scrappy family headed by quietly intense patriarch Roberto (Tony Plana), a widower with three sons and two daughters.

In tonight’s episode, oldest son Miguel (Mauricio Mendoza) gets a promoter’s license from the state’s boxing commission and promptly signs his aggressive brother Carlos (Michael DeLorenzo), a former middleweight contender who has recovered from gunshot wounds suffered last season.

Youngest brother Alex (Nicholas Gonzalez), a former premed student, is bitter and disillusioned after losing a title shot engineered by a shady promoter (Ray Wise of “Twin Peaks”). When Miguel tries to get his family’s share of that championship fight, he ends up in a country-club scuffle with Wise and his henchmen.

Meanwhile, Roberto’s oldest daughter Yolanda, (Ruth Livier) gets acquainted with a fellow student (Brian A. Green) at a graduate law class, and teenage sister Victoria (Marisol Nichols) seeks a part-time job.

“Resurrection” doesn’t play like a soap opera, which is good. But it doesn’t really work as hard-hitting drama, either. For example, that food-fight scene set at the country club is rather embarrassing.

Credit Showtime with creating an ensemble drama with a capable cast that reflects the Latino culture. More, please. But next time strip away the cliches and coarseness. Otherwise, we’ll be forced to throw in the towel.

Surf Report

SPECIALS

Cinemax presents two Oscar-nominated short subject documentaries: “Curtain Call” (7 p.m.), which visits the Actors’ Fund Home for retired entertainers in Englewood, N.J., and “On Tiptoe: Gentle Steps to Freedom” (7:35 p.m.), the story of Joseph Shabalala, leader of South Africa’s singing group Ladysmith Black Mambazo.

SERIES

“Secrets of the Dead” (9 p.m. KCET; 8 p.m. KVCR), which explores events of the past, starts its second season with a report on the Salem Witch Trials of 1692.

MOVIES

Two high school seniors commit murder to maintain their well-heeled lifestyles in the made-for-cable film “Class Warfare” (9 p.m. USA).